Playing in the Light

This week I had a few free hours at work for 'cleaning' up my Lightroom catalog. I had to go back to March and start culling. Of course I got side tracked and started editing some because I'd done very little of that too. I was captivated once again at how my neighbor's lilacs danced in the light that day.

I wouldn't have thought they would look so stunning in black and white, but who knew?

Their buds look like little alien mouths.

Such delicacy.

 Such beauty.

Have a beautiful weekend and a great Mother's Day!

Spring - the Crocus Edition

I've been so lazy with my photography lately but I made myself do a couple things this week. 

First I ventured out to the Garden and Art Center because I knew the spring flowers should be blooming. (Although with our higher than normal temps, spring is 3 weeks early this year.)

Second, this morning I watch a video on how to use Topaz Texture Effects which I've owned since it came out and have never used it.

This is my first trial run. One thing fabulous about this software is that you can scroll over the textures and see what it will look like on your photo. You can also scroll over the blend modes for previews which makes it so much faster. (You can even access your own textures through it.) Tons of presets and oodles of tweaks to your hearts content.)

Products used, My Watercolor Brushes, Anna's Script Tease Nature, and my Sketchy Loops which will be in the store real soon.

I used Pretty Presets Lightroom Luminous on this shot. (Rose petals)

Another with that preset.

And another that I decide to mirror for my new header.

Dark and mysterious, edited with Kim Klassen's Chocolate.

All shots were taken with my Canon 100m Macro. I experimented with some focus stacking to see if I could get four flowers with four different focal lengths combined in one image to all be in focus.

Quite fun. Maybe not perfect, but it was a great exercise. 

If you want to try this out. Go shoot some images with focus variations. In Photoshop...

File> Scripts> Load Files Into Stacks

 Browse to find and select your files. Choose Open.

 Before selecting OK, check the box 'Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images'. It does a good job, but because of the blur from the macro lens I had to do a bit of my own adjusting. A tripod would  be advantage in most cases.

Now the masking begins on each layer. It's easiest to start at the bottom and work your way forward.

 Start with a black mask and 'paint in' the sharp areas. If you're not familiar with masking... ask Google.

Crop your image to clean up all the edges. Viola! Now if I want to I can load this back into Lightroom for further editing. I did do a touch of editing before I exported them to a folder on my desktop. (before the stacking)

I'm so glad spring is here. It's even raining a bit today. Ah... that fresh smell!

Summer at the Garden and Arts Center

Spring is my usual time to shoot the flowers at the Garden and Arts Center. The poppies just make me swoon. But I stopped in this week to what was going on. The rudbeckia were just phenomenal. I had taken my 70-300 lens by recommendation of Kathleen Clemons. I used to use it on my flowers but had gotten out of the habit. 

I love the rich moodiness of this.

f/5.6, 1/350, ISO 320.....f/4.5, 1/180, ISO 160

f/5.6, 1/350, ISO 320.....f/6.7, 1/180, ISO 320.....

I was also pleased with the shots using my 100mm.

f/4.5, 1/125, ISO 160

f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 100

f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 320

f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 100

These babies were surrounded by gaillardia, also known as blanket flower. They had planted several species. I don't think I got shots of all the colors.

f/2.8, 1/180, ISO 100

f/2.8, 1/180, ISO 100.......f/4, 1/180, ISO 160

Back to the long lens. Taken at 300mm, f/5.6, 1/350, ISO 800

I may just have to go back.

I took a ton more with my phone so maybe you'll see more on Mobile Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday Finds -Bottles and Poppies

I've pretty much reached the end of my studio reorganization. At least I can work in it now and I still have a few empty shelves in the closet. Yes!

While going through everything' I found some old photos and memorabilia that brought back wonderful memories. I also found a small box of tiny bottles bought in a garage sale 2 summers ago. Best find ever! 

(iPhone, Snapseed, Stackables)

I set them up and waited for a morning I could pick some poppies and shoot away. I also found I was going to have to rearrange just a bit more so my body is not in the way of my morning light.

I was fretting early this spring that I might not have many poppies because the rabbits kept eating them. Unfortunately our little pellet gun is not sighted in correctly. We missed a whole lot more than we hit. But they survived in a few spots, one being next to the bird bath. I about died when I walked out a couple days ago and saw this.

(iPhone, Enlight app)

I tried to capture the same thing on the Canon but it's not quite the same.

More shots I found time to edit yesterday. I've made a preset that brings out the detail in the red and applied it to all of these. Then added another on top of some.

Added kk_serendipitous. (ISO 160 100mm f/5.6 1/180sec)

Added kk_serendipitous. (ISO 160 100mm f/5.6 1/180sec)

An old preset of Kim's called AutumnCopperII. (ISO 100 100mm f/4 1/250sec)

Added kk_lightandairyfilm. (ISO 100 100mm f/4.5 1/180sec)

Here's a before and after so you can see how the 'red' changes. Exactly one year ago I gave the details on my blog for these settings. Check out 'Shooting Red'.

Joining Kim for Friday Finds!

Friday Finds, Daisy Bokeh

Good morning! It's Friday Finds over at Kim's blog and this week I found…

You can pick a daisy and stick it the dewy morning grass to capture some great bokeh! I believe I'll do this more often. All shots with my Canon 100mm.

Some presets used are Kim's.

f/4, 1/500, ISO 100

f/3.5, 1/350, ISO 100

f/4, 1/350, ISO 100

f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 100

A matching bug!

f/8, 1/125, ISO 100

Don't you just love the randomness of daisies?

f/8, 1/125, ISO 100

More awesome light. The garden was just magical yesterday. I love the flares you get shooting into the light. I could tell I was getting a sun flare but didn't realize it was colored until I saw it on my computer!

f/8, 1/125, ISO 100

f/8, 1/125, ISO 100

Have a fabulous friday and check out what everyone else has found/discovered this week at Kim's.

Friday Finds and Random Five April 4

This week I was excited to find Pussy Willows at the grocery store! Every year I want to buy some and never do. Not this time. They don't grow anywhere near here. I do remember having some around growing up but it might be that my mom purchased them also. I never saw any as I explored the countryside as a child. I had such fun photographing these.

Dip-tic template by Kim Klassen from our Sart2Finish Class, Lesson Eight. 

I altered it to make the top trip-tic.

All shots with my 100mm, except the far right on the top group was with my 50.

This photo contains a Random To Do list from Wednesday of this week.

1. Print a photo for the Gallery Exhibit for the local Arts Festival.
2. Plant my purple potatoes that are growing without dirt.
3. Make tuna salad.
4. Change the registration on my car windshield. (Yes, that's a razor blade.)
5. Plant some poppy seeds at work.

How many got crossed off? Three. Those are good odds since there was a lot more on the written list.
Linking up with Kim for Friday Finds.
And Nancy for Random Five Friday. (Well Nancy's on Spring Break this week but you can visit her lovely blog anyway.)
Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!